Review of The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title/Author: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher/Date published: Disney-Hyperion, November 5th 2013
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides — especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

YOU GUYS! THIS BOOK! I totally loved it!! I read it all in one day, which is even more impressive if you consider the fact that a huge part of said day was spent working! But I couldn't put it down until I finished it, it was THAT good!

I love Cassie! She's been through a lot and she's got her walls way up, but you know what, I get it. I can even imagine what it would be like to go into your mother's dressing room and find gallons of blood, but not your mother. It makes me want to hug my mom and be thankful that I've never had to face something like that. Cassie is smart and she's tough and I would have loved for her to realise that she deserves the love her enormous family wants to show her! Also: Cassie is so smart and so good at this profiling thing that it's creepy. But in a good way. I wish a had a teensy bit of her people reading skills.

And I LOVED the whole teenage crew! They're all sorts of brilliant and them teaming up was AMAZING to watch! I love their different personalities and pretty much every one of them is a bit messed up. And they all made for such interesting characters! Everyone had their own story and I may not know all of them, but I'm DYING to know! I really hope Jennifer Lynn Barnes will tell us more about them in the next book!

And of course I have a soft spot for the boys. Because: boys. I cannot help but root for one of them more, but I'll let you guess once you've read it which one is my favourite. To be fair, there is a love triangle going on, but it's not really 'love' when they're just getting to know each other and Cassie is confused about her attraction to both as well. And isn't calling any of it love. So I was surprisingly ok with it.

Towards the end I was suspicious of EVERYTHING and at one point I wanted to yell NOOOOOO!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? DON'T YOU SEE THIS IS HOW PEOPLE GET KILLED IN MOVIES?? So yeah, I kinda figured it out before Cassie did, but it was ok, cause it wasn't glaringly obvious from the start. Also: major creep factor! I mean seriously, it was SO messed up!

As I said at the beginning: I could not put this book down, I kept thinking about it until I managed to finish it and it was GLORIOUS! While it's about serial killers, the book didn't get dark and I just totally love Jennifer Lynn Barnes' writing! The pace was just right and kept me on the edge of my seat and GAH, can I just have the next book now please?? Cause I can only find that this is the start of a new series, but nothing about the second book! But PLEASE JUST GIVE IT TO ME!

My rating: 5 stars